The Insider counted four foreign leaders who have so far confirmed plans to attend the May 9 Victory Day parade on Red Square.
On April 27, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin would later announce how many invitations had been sent and which foreign leaders had already confirmed plans to attend the May 9 parade on Red Square. Earlier media reports said leaders of 20 countries would attend, but Peskov said he “knew nothing about such a figure.”
On April 4, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said a number of foreign politicians planned to visit Moscow for the May 9 celebrations. He did not name the guests.
Leaders of three CIS member states have already announced plans to take part: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov.
Badra Gunba and Alan Gagloev, leaders of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, also are expected to attend. Milorad Dodik, leader of the ruling party in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, has said he plans to attend as well.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will also attend, Ushakov confirmed April 29. The state-controlled agency RIA Novosti earlier reported, citing diplomatic sources, that Fico would travel to Moscow by car after the Baltic states closed their airspace to his flight.
Fico himself has said he will not take part in the military parade but plans to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honor Soviet soldiers who died liberating Slovakia from fascism, according to RIA Novosti.
Last year, the Victory Day parade was attended by leaders of 27 countries, including China, Serbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Armenia, Egypt, Vietnam, Ethiopia and partially recognized Palestine. A diplomatic representative of Israel also attended last year’s parade, while the U.S. ambassador ignored the invitation.
On April 29, Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that Moscow’s Victory Day parade will be held without military vehicles for the first time in 18 years “because of the current operational situation.” In Nizhny Novgorod, the celebration was canceled altogether “because of security requirements,” while authorities in the Voronezh Region, which borders Ukraine’s Luhansk Region, canceled the fireworks display that usually takes place at the end of the holiday.
In recent months, Ukraine has regularly used drones to attack Russian industrial and energy infrastructure.
